Banshee Family Training Record

Page 145

Upon hearing this, the princess's eyes lit up: "Is that so? Bring it here, let me see."

Yun Chu'an nodded. Although this required him to put aside his usual cultivation and focus solely on producing it, he decided to pave the way first: "As you command."

He then took out a real Vajra Talisman and demonstrated it to her. Sheng Linglong suppressed her strength to the early Foundation Establishment stage, and when she made a move, she was instantly overwhelmed by the backlash. In that instant, her heart burned even more with eagerness: "Good, good, good! How many of these can you produce in a month?"

Yun Chu'an gave a conservative figure, which was roughly the output he could produce in three days if he went all out to print it. After all, this thing required his personal involvement, and he preferred to spend his time on cultivation.

Upon hearing this, Sheng Linglong nodded slightly and continued, "Well, after all, this is a talisman that can counter Foundation Establishment stage cultivators, so it's normal that the production is low."

"However, a stable production volume would be ideal. Prime Minister Ge, what do you think would be a suitable price for this kind of talisman?"

She turned to look at the old man beside her. The old man lowered his head, his eyes darting around as if he were thinking. After a moment of contemplation, he said, "I believe that the most suitable price for this kind of talisman is 100,000 spirit stones per piece."

Sheng Linglong looked somewhat surprised, but she remained composed and then looked at Yun Chu'an: "Minister Yun, what do you think?"

Yun Chu'an frowned slightly, feeling somewhat dissatisfied: "Thank you for your kind words, Princess. However, I believe that it would be more appropriate to settle for such a treasure that can deal with Foundation Establishment cultivators with mid-grade spirit stones. Ah, I am also a new Foundation Establishment cultivator and do not understand the market. If I am wrong, please forgive me, Your Highness and Prime Minister Ge."

He said this, and Sheng Linglong then looked at the old man beside her: "Prime Minister Ge, what do you think?"

The old man, however, was confident and spoke in an orderly manner: "The current situation between the states of Jin and Zhao is tense. Zhao cultivators have amassed troops on the border of the two countries under the pretext of exorcising demons. The court needs some mid-grade spirit stones as strategic reserves to deal with the possibility of war breaking out at any time."

“However,” he suddenly changed the subject, looking at Sheng Linglong, “Your Highness, I have heard that Mr. Yun has some connections. If we can use this to reduce the impact of the war, these reserves can be unsealed, or even used on him directly for strategic reasons.”

Damn, so this was where I was waiting!

Yun Chu'an cursed inwardly. This old man was really cunning. Clearly, the magic treasures and talismans of the Foundation Establishment stage should be settled with mid-grade spirit stones. This is the consistent rule of the market. But he deliberately said that. He was just trying to change the bargaining chips out of thin air, to get something for nothing, and to use his resources to do things for him without any cost!

He cursed inwardly, but put on a surprised and expectant expression, looking at the Princess of Jin as if he was satisfied with the arrangement and even somewhat moved.

Sheng Linglong looked a little apologetic. Subconsciously, she still considered Yun Chu'an a friend and was unwilling to scheme against him like this.

But she also knew that she was a princess, and with matters of national importance before her, she had to harden her heart.

That's fine. I'll find a way to compensate him privately in other ways later.

She hardened her heart, nodded, and said, "Yes, I agree with Prime Minister Ge's statement. Minister Yun, I need the established and mature channels you have set up to allow Prime Minister Ge and me to enter the Huang Mang family."

This was actually the purpose of Ge Xiang coming with her today to meet with Yun Chu'an; they were brewing a big plan.

However, Ge Xiang was a shrewd old man who was even quicker to think than she was. When he saw Yun Chu'an bring out a new talisman, he conjured up a bargaining chip out of thin air and was getting his resources for free, almost without any cost.

Yun Chu'an's gaze narrowed slightly, then her expression turned to surprise: "Ah? Could it be that Your Highness intends to personally behead them? This... isn't this a bit too risky?"

Sheng Linglong smiled gently: "How could that be? In your eyes, am I such a reckless person?"

Yun Chu'an quickly lowered his head: "Your humble servant dares not."

Sheng Linglong lost her interest in joking again. She waved her hand and said listlessly, "Ge Xiang and I have our own plans. You just need to find a reason to send the two of us in."

Chapter 318 The Princess's Heartache

Yun Chu'an's eyes flickered as he weighed the pros and cons. Finally, he nodded slightly and said, "Alright, then I'll make some arrangements. It shouldn't take too long to get you two inside."

Prime Minister Ge also smiled and said, "If this matter succeeds, the mid-grade spirit stones stored in the court can be unsealed. We can then purchase Vajra Talismans for eighty mid-grade spirit stones each."

Eighty per ticket?

It's alright; at least it's a stable way to make money.

Yun Chu'an was quite satisfied with the price, but he still felt a little displeased with the old man.

That old guy is too cunning; we need to be careful.

Suppressing his dissatisfaction, he nodded, turned and took his leave to make arrangements.

After he turned and left, the master and servant who had not yet left watched his retreating figure under the big willow tree. Suddenly, Ge Xiang spoke up: "This man is quite cunning. He is dissatisfied, but he hides it very well and still greets you and me with a smile."

"I'm afraid he doesn't really respect Your Highness that much. Your Highness, although you intend to give him an important position, you still have to be wary of him."

Sheng Linglong also watched Yun Chuan's departing figure. For some reason, she always felt that he looked somewhat lonely, even desolate, as he left.

She felt a pang of sympathy and remained noncommittal about what Ge Xiang said: "That's only human nature. If it were me, I would also feel disgusted, but I couldn't express it directly because of the other party's strength and high position."

After saying that, she turned to look at the old man and said, "Prime Minister Ge, you didn't need to scheme like that just now. It's just some spirit stones. If you make him disloyal to my Jin royal family, that would be a much worse deal."

She intentionally wanted to favor Yun Chu'an, but seeing that the old man still wanted to say something, she suddenly spoke up again, saying, "My father taught me to trust those I employ, and he practiced what he preached, just like he did with the Ge family."

Ge Xiangben wanted to say something more, but when he heard her mention his family, he could only give a bitter smile and bow his head in response, "Your Highness is wise."

But when he lowered his head and frowned slightly, he was still somewhat uneasy.

The princess was, after all, a woman, and she seemed to have a strong liking for the cultivator surnamed Yun, to the point that she became somewhat emotional.

This is not a good thing. As a queen destined to rule the entire country, she must learn to treat these common people as tools, as a series of numbers in statistics, and not have any emotional fluctuations towards them.

He pondered, having his own thoughts in mind. Then, the two turned around together and quickly left.

On the other side, after returning, Yun Chu'an began to busy himself preparing identities for the two of them, and then led them into the Ten Thousand Snake Cave.

Since the bull demons launched a major attack on the Yellow Python Clan, the blockade around their territory had become virtually nonexistent. Later, news spread that the Dragon Prince of the Wei River had returned home, making the blockade even less necessary, and it was disbanded in a rather haphazard manner.

Therefore, bringing the two of them into the territory of the field mouse family was not a big problem. The real risk was how to bring them into the cave of ten thousand snakes without arousing suspicion.

Fortunately, Yun Chu'an has been maintaining good relations here.

Time passed slowly, and on this day, Yun Chuan—or more accurately, the field mouse spirit "Mickey"—brought two equally thin and unfamiliar field mouse spirits to the gate of the Ten Thousand Snake Cave.

The two mice, a male and a female, were hunched over with a weathered face, while the female stood ramrod straight, though her expression was clearly apprehensive: "Will this really work?"

Yun Chuan said, "Whether it works or not is not up to me, but depends on whether the two of you can really conceal your cultivation level and only emit the fluctuations of the Qi Refining stage, so that the giant snakes can't see that you are also in the Golden Core stage."

The older rat said in a deep voice, "Don't worry, I'm confident in this area."

Yun Chu'an nodded slightly: "Then there's no problem, let's go."

As he spoke, he strode forward. The snake demon at the door saw him coming and quickly lowered its head to show respect.

He casually tipped the man a few spirit stones, and the man was extremely grateful, opening the door to let him in.

Yun Chu'an walked through the long passage and arrived at the interior of the Ten Thousand Snake Cave. The two rats behind him were here for the first time. The young female rat spirit couldn't help but be curious, looking around at the huge cavity inside the mountain and the scattered snake demons, some in human form and some still in the form of giant pythons. She clicked her tongue in amazement: "I never thought that the snake demon's cave would be like this."

Yun Chu'an ignored her and walked straight inside. He chose a cave and went in. Soon, at the end of the cave, a familiar figure appeared. It was none other than Diao Desi, whom he had known for the first time.

His cultivation level remained at the ninth level of Qi Refining. Although he had the Foundation Establishment Pill before, he still failed to break through and was unable to advance. During this period, his family suffered a series of misfortunes, and his relatives were injured, so he was in low spirits and quite depressed every day.

He strode forward, took Diao Desi's hand, and called out affectionately, "Fourth Brother, is Second Brother's injury any better?"

On the day of the battle against the bull demon, the Diao brothers were tricked into going to the front line, but in the end they did not achieve anything and were injured instead.

Afterwards, the Yellow Python Clan didn't reward those who went to the battlefield much, but punished those snake demons who made excuses and didn't go. Seeing the fate of their fellow clansmen who were punished, the Diao brothers were frightened and had no complaints about Mickey, who had urged them to go to the front lines.

Moreover, after that, the family said that the wounded could enjoy some extra blood pool powder for healing, so they had even fewer complaints.

However, things didn't seem to develop the way they had imagined after that.

Diao Desi shook his head and said, "It's not ready yet. The amount of blood pool powder allocated by the family has been reduced again. You know the reason. A green snake spirit who married into the family ran away with all these supplies. The current statistics are out. She took a total of eight thousand catties of powder, in addition to countless magic treasures, talismans, pills, and weapons..."

Yun Chu'an cursed inwardly, "Eight thousand catties? What a load of crap!" He then calculated that the amount of powder Zou Min had taken was at most less than three thousand catties. The rest was definitely embezzled by their own people!

These people are really something, real parasites, far more terrifying than Zou Min!

He naturally wouldn't say this to Diao Desi, but instead sighed, full of sympathy: "When it rains, it pours. Alas, my good brother Mire also sacrificed himself on that battlefield. If I had known this would happen, I shouldn't have made that suggestion."

He covered his face, on the verge of tears, but Diao Desi bravely patted him on the shoulder and said, "Brother, don't be sad. No matter what happens, we will always be your good brothers!"

He spoke with conviction, but his words caused the two men behind him to have strange expressions. They could already guess that Yun Chu'an had managed to rescue the Wei River Dragon Prince by fooling this not-so-bright snake demon.

The two exchanged a glance, trying to suppress their laughter, but ultimately remained calm and waited quietly.

After Yun Chu'an finished his reflections, he took out a storage bag, took out two small boxes from it, and handed them to Diao Desi: "Brother, I got some more pills this time. This 'Great Yellow Pill' is a top-grade medicine for replenishing qi and nourishing the body. It is effective even for Foundation Establishment cultivators. Take some time to send it to your second brother as soon as possible."

"This 'Foundation Building Pill' is for you. Once you've established your foundation, even if you're poor in the future, it won't affect us brothers. I heard that the Zhao and Jin states are going to encircle us from both sides. Whether we can have a good life in the future depends on how united we are!"

He said this with great sincerity, but it was clearly a blatant lie: the two sides had a deep-seated hatred for each other, so how could they possibly abandon their old grudges and join forces again because of the Huang Mang family?

Chapter 319 Going to the Meeting Alone!

But given Diao Desi's limited knowledge, he clearly didn't know any of this. Upon hearing this, he was overjoyed, took the pills, and nodded repeatedly: "Good, good, good! Brother, don't be so polite. Your second brother and I can't get these things ourselves. We're the ones being taken care of by you!"

If the occasion hadn't been inappropriate, the two rat demons watching the show would have already burst into laughter.

After saying all that, Diao Desi finally noticed the two rat demons following behind Yun Chuan and asked curiously, "Brother, who are these two?"

Yun Chuan said, "This is my second uncle, his name is 'Mi Jun,' and this is his daughter, her name is 'Mi Ha.' They are both like Mi Lei, and have a good relationship with me, but..."

He looked troubled, as if there were some things he couldn't bring himself to say: "Anyway, there are some things within our family, uh, you know, even family members aren't always so harmonious."

He didn't say it directly, but rather hinted at it repeatedly. Diao Desi suddenly realized that he had also been bullied by his family when he was young, and he nodded repeatedly: "Oh, oh, oh, I understand, I understand, brother, just tell me, what do you need me to help you with?"

Yun Chuan said, "It's nothing. Right now, our family is testing each other with the cultivators from Zhao. Could you find a safe place on the front lines to arrange for them? A simple job is fine, as long as they can manage."

"In this way, I'll stay at home and every few days tell them that the two of them have made great contributions on the front lines, fighting desperately every day, and have received some commendations and spirit stones... In short, I'll put in a lot of effort from behind, and once things settle down, the father and daughter can go home."

He said this without explaining things clearly, relying entirely on Diao Desi's imagination, which actually made it easier to smooth things over.

The snake demon wasn't good at thinking, and upon hearing this, he immediately patted his chest and assured them, "No problem, brother! Hey, what's the point of this bland and tasteless government office? I'll arrange for them to work in the logistics warehouse. Whoever comes to pick up something can just have a couple of paperwork issues, and we'll be collecting low-grade spirit stones nonstop!"

Yun Chu'an blushed and said, "Oh, that's so embarrassing..."

Diao Desi said, "Why are you being so polite between us brothers? We're all brothers!"

Yun Chu'an was overjoyed: "Well then, brother, I shall respectfully accept your offer!"

The two spoke in unison, and the atmosphere became lively. Diao Desi invited him to have a meal with him, and Yun Chuan did not refuse. He and the two rats, "Mi Jun" and "Mi Ha," had a meal together in the snake demon's cave.

Diao De'er also attended the banquet, and De'si had already handed him the elixir and instructed him to take it. The snake demon looked much better, and his words to Yun Chu'an were mostly expressions of gratitude.

Yun Chu'an also complimented the brothers, and for a time, both host and guests were in high spirits.

After the banquet, "Mi Jun" and his daughter "Mi Ha" stayed at the Ten Thousand Snake Cave, where the Diao brothers arranged their work. Yun Chu'an left anxiously, praying that everything would go smoothly and that even if something went wrong, he wouldn't be implicated.

That's right, "Mi Jun" and "Mi Ha" could not possibly be rats. On the contrary, they are Prime Minister Ge and Princess Sheng Linglong of Jin.

They already knew that the Yellow Python Clan was fighting against the cultivators of the Zhao Kingdom, so they went to great lengths to get to the front line of the battle, to the camp of the snake demons.

The snake demons neglected their rear and had no idea that someone could enter their rear through such channels.

Time slowly passed, and the days went by one by one. Undercurrents surged in the background, but the moment of explosion had not yet arrived.

Finally, on this day, in the rear of the battle line between the Huang Mang family and the Zhao Kingdom cultivators, in the Huang Mang family's camp.

This is a tent supported high by a white canvas, inside which stands the Golden Core cultivator with the highest cultivation level in the Yellow Python Clan.

Today, these thousand-meter-long snakes have transformed into human form, becoming about the same size as ordinary people, wearing coarse yellow or brown clothes. Although a few still retain the heads of pythons, they are generally similar in appearance.

This isn't home; on the front lines, being too large would make them easy for the enemy to spot. Therefore, they still use human bodies as camouflage, only revealing their true forms when it comes to actual combat.

These people formed a circle in the tent. A python raised its hand and used its spiritual power to create a virtual sand table in the center of the tent. It perfectly reproduced the appearance of the mountains within a hundred miles from here to the Zhao Kingdom. At the same time, each person's name was written in red and yellow paint on each mountain to distinguish friend from foe.

“That’s the current situation,” said the Golden Core cultivator who was maintaining the illusory sand table. “The Zhao Kingdom seems to have seen through our purpose. Although they’ve made a big show of it, they haven’t actually started fighting. It seems they’re waiting for the Jin Kingdom to make a move so they can form an encirclement.”

"Everyone, we can't afford to delay any longer, so let's all share our thoughts."

The snake demons all looked serious and spoke freely: "Should we break through from this direction? Chen Shuling seems to be here, and the defenses here seem to be the weakest."

"I don't recommend it. We haven't scouted the area behind us yet, and there are powerful Golden Core cultivators guarding the surroundings. If we get surrounded, it will be difficult to escape."

"Why not just send Foundation Establishment cultivators to investigate? The reconnaissance efforts in various aspects have been poor lately. Does this mean my Huang Mang family is truly without any members?"

"There's nothing we can do. The supply of the medicine powder has decreased, and everyone is afraid that if they are seriously injured, they may not be able to be saved. Morale is low, and no one dares to take the initiative to attack."

"We have to be ruthless. The Jin people will catch up soon, and we can't afford to delay!"

A snake demon said this, but at that moment, a clear female voice suddenly came from outside the tent: "If you ask me, the Jin Kingdom doesn't have to surround us from the rear, what would you all do?"

Upon hearing this, the expressions of the many snake demons in the tent all changed drastically: "Who, who is it?!"

This is their main tent, the most central and confidential place on the entire front line. How could a stranger suddenly appear here?!

Unaware of what was happening, they all looked towards the tent entrance and saw a beautiful young woman in a silver brocade robe stride into the tent: "Princess Sheng Linglong of Jin."

She made no attempt to conceal her identity, appearing openly and boldly. Immediately, many of the snake demons present were speechless, their hearts pounding, and some were sweating profusely, their minds overloaded, wondering what she was doing there and what her purpose was.

The leading snake demon calmed down first, sneered, and prepared to overwhelm her with her aura: "How dare you, Sheng Linglong, come to my Huang Mang family's tent alone."

"We're mortal enemies now. Aren't you afraid we'll swarm you and take you down on the spot?"

He threatened her, to which Sheng Linglong scoffed, "Take me down? Do you even have the ability?"

"Besides, how can you be sure I came alone today?"

Before she could finish speaking, a series of rapid bird calls suddenly came from outside. The sounds were melodious and pleasant, but the rhythm was complex and mysterious. For a moment, the many snake demons in the tent felt dizzy and disoriented. They were extremely nervous and could not imagine how many powerful cultivators were standing behind her.

Instantly, the snake demon's face darkened, realizing that the other party had come prepared and that he was unlikely to gain the upper hand: "What exactly is your purpose?"